


Crash Course

by CherryBerryKomainu



Series: Silk And Sword And Swindling [7]
Category: Dororo (Anime 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Dororo is only seen at the end but he’s still important enough so character tag, Kinda, Kokodo reveals some of her backstory, Learning about demons, Liberties taken with how Demons work in Dororo, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Tahomaru crashes the party, hidi-hay (almost) the entire gang is back together again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 18:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19706800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryBerryKomainu/pseuds/CherryBerryKomainu
Summary: As they search for Dororo, Kokodo teaches Tahomaru a little bit about how demons work, and Tahomaru learns how Kokodo became who she is now.





	Crash Course

‘Are you okay?’ Tahomaru asked for the fourth time today. He was perched on Kokodo’s shoulder, as he had yet to get the hang of flying. 

Kokodo sighed, half ready to bind the Yokai’s beak shut. “Yes Tahomaru, I am just as fine as I was the 3 other times you asked.” She told him. “I know it looks bad, but I’m a demon, not a human.”

‘You can kill a demon in the same way you can kill a human.’ He replied, combing through the demons messy hair with his beak. 

“My real body just needs time to heal, I took a lot of damage a while ago. So I’m stuck looking like a human until the damage is fixed.” She didn’t mention that without human flesh to eat it would take months for her to regain full power.

‘You look like a bug wearing human flesh,’ Tahomaru told her bluntly. ‘Your eyes are segmented, one of your antennas is out, your wings, or what’s left of them, are visible, and your body looks like a dolls.’ 

“I’m not happy about it either Tahomaru. As I am, I can’t interact with humans, meaning it’s going to be near impossible to find Dororo right now.”

‘I could go check around a village, I can’t fly but I can still hop.’

“Yeah, clumsily, and you still speak, if anyone hears you then they’ll kill you on sight. And you can’t defend yourself like I can.” At this Tahomaru nipped Kokodo’s ear, thoroughly annoyed by the truth of her words. He despised feeling this helpless. Still couldn’t believe that he was relying on a demon, one that apparently married Hyakkimaru, for help. Then again, he wasn’t human anymore either. So he didn’t really have a right to complain.

“So, when will I start craving human?” Tahomaru asked, a little, Okay, maybe a LOT, nervous. Kokodo stopped in her tracks and stared at him for a long while. So long in fact, that Tahomaru brought a wing up to hide his face from her stare.

“Tahomaru, you’re a Tatarimokke.” She finally said. “That’s… you’re… you’re a spirit inhabiting an owls body, you don’t have any special powers besides being able to talk, you’re just… you’re literally an owl. You don’t crave human flesh period.”

“But… I thought all demons did…?”

“What? No, not all demons do, some feed off of life energy, which humans can always replenish when they run low unless they’ve been sucked dry. Quite a few demons feed solely off of life energy. It allows them to live in relative peace with humans. Most insectoid human level intelligence demons feed off of life energy.” She explained.

“But…. you’re an insectoid demon with human level intelligence…” Tahomaru cocked his head to the side. At this, Kokodo wilted slightly.

“Yes, but… I suppose I should say ADULT demons feed one life energy, young demons don’t, or rather, they’re unable to, like how a human infant can’t eat solid foods.” She sighed. “And they have to be taught, it’s a lot more tricky then just chewing and swallowing meat, and each demon family does it differently.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Well, it’s mainly because of how I became a full demon.” She replied.

“You… weren’t always a demon?” Tahomaru looked dumbfounded.

“Not a full demon at least…” Kokodo slowed to a stop to sit down against a tree. “See, I am not one of the demons that stole Hyakkimaru’s body parts, that was my mother, Taberukanjō. She took his heart and fed it to me, as she felt I would be best suited to succeed her.” 

“She… fed it to you?” 

“Yes, I used to be a giant silkworm, born from a demon yes, my mother, but I was still a silkworm, I ate what silkworms ate. But, I could not mature, my mother was a demon who no longer required human flesh, in fact eating it, or any food, made her sick. She instead fed on the emotions of humans. Because of this, she could not produce any true demon children, just silkworms with little to no intelligence. This normally, wouldn’t frustrate or bother her type of demon, but she spent so much time around humanity, taking care of an entire village of humans, that she… well I suppose she began to long for that which humans hold over demons.” The girl told him with a saddened look.

“You mean to say, that she longed for a family?” Tahomaru asked quietly, quite interested on the insight on what he once despised but now was. Kokodo nodded.

“Yes, She didn’t long for a husband though, no, she just wanted a child. Maybe more. But whether she wanted one or one hundred, she still wanted one, and not the kind she produced. One that would grow fully, one she could teach and care for directly and eventually see them either succeed her, or go on to find a village of their own. And so, she looked over all her current children, trying to decide which one would make a good heir…”

“And what made her decide on you?”

“I was big.” She laughs. “I was a giant silkworm, the size of a dog, I suppose my mother felt that because I was bigger then a normal silkworm, I would hold more power. So, when Daigo offered the demons anything they wanted, and they chose his first born, my mother staked her claim on his heart. After all, a human heart is the only piece of a human that can grant a demon a human form and mind. A brain might increase a demons intelligence, but if the demon can not comprehend it, then it is useless. Many folktales passed down among demon kind tell of various mindless demons suddenly becoming intelligent and strong upon the consumption of a human heart.”

Demons has folktales? They passed them down? 

“So she fed me the heart, but folktales are called folktales for a reason, and instead of suddenly becoming on level with my mother, I simply turned into a demon with the intellect of a newborn baby who now possessed the ability to make themselves look human, and also become a moth. And while I grew, my original form was still that of a silkworm, I could not reproduce, I was still a child in a sense. And since I was still, and would always be, a child, I never gained the ability to feed off life energy.”

Silence settled around the two demons for a while, Tahomaru had a feeling that there was something more to it then that, but he didn’t dare try to press Kokodo. He did not want to touch a nerve and get on her bad side.

“That… I’m sorry to hear about that, Kokodo.” He finally said. “It must be hard for you since you seem to care about humans so much.”

“It is… But I don’t often need to eat humans, I can sustain myself on normal food, human flesh just gives me increased energy and hastens my ability to heal greatly.”

“Then why are you still injured so badly?” Tahomaru questioned. “When we first met, you had eaten my fathe-Daigo. Shouldn’t that have healed you?”

“It did… I was a lot worse before I consumed him, in fact I was slowly on the verge of death… I saw the burning palace and had attempted to blow the fire away with my wings, but it climbed too fast and engulfed me.” She answered sadly. “I was lucky to fly away fast enough that I wasn’t too close to the palace to have the fire carry, and to be large enough that the fire that had jumped to me flickered out before it could fully consume me.”

“...How many humans would you need to eat to regain full power?”

Kokodo looked at him in shock, and before either could speak again, she suddenly stilled.

“Kokodo?” Tahomaru whispered, waving a Wing in front of her face.

“...I...I can sense Dororo, he’s not that far ahead of us.” She gasped, stumbling to her feet. “Come on! Quickly!”

Tahomaru sunk his talons into her shoulder as she took off, as to not fall off, but he felt a swell of excitement bubble up in him, and so he let out a triumphant cry and, without thinking, spread his wings and took off as Kokodo ran down a hill.

He, he was flying! Actually flying! It felt amazing! Wonderful! Powerfu-

And then he realized he could not control where he was going, he just barely prevented himself from diving face first into the ground and as he suddenly shot up into the air, his wings lost their balance, and he began to plummet, flailing his wings in a panic to try and anchor himself. He could hear Kokodo call his name from a distance, but the wind almost overtook her voice. 

Tahomaru crashed into one tree, then another, falling down at least four branches before he landed on something soft yet hard, and that too fell.

“What the hell?! Get off me!” 

He recognized that voice.

“Dororo?!” He yelped without thinking, tumbling off the boy and onto his back, in which he found himself stuck.

The child, who yes, was Dororo, stared at him in shock. Tahomaru could see the gears turning in his head, and suddenly he remembered that last Dororo saw him, he had kidnapped them and tried to kill his brother. 

And now he was flat on his back, defenceless.

Tahomaru gulped, ‘Oh dear god why?’ He thought to himself.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry for disappearing for so long, it’s Summer you’d figure I’d be writing even more but nooooo, I got fucking writers block! But I’m back, hopefully I’ll post on a more frequent schedule. Hope you’ve enjoyed this instalment of SASAS, next time we’ll switch to our last, and currently unknown, main character of this story. Feedback is greatly appreciated as always!


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